Unspoken
by Jelly Bean Jenna
Summary: Andy comes home and Sam accuses her of an unthinkable act, and leaves her an empty box. Written for Valentines Day & the Rookie Blue Parade monthly writing thread challenge February 2013. Nominated for the Rookie Blue Choice Awards 2013 as Best Holiday Story.


**Summery; Andy comes home and Sam accuses her of an unthinkable act, and leaves her an empty box. **

**Written for Valentines Day & the Rookie Blue Parade monthly writing thread challenge February 2013. **

**Thanks to Laderwolf314 for doing this! **

**Prompt: "Writing comes more easily if you have something to say". **

**Unspoken. **

Leaving was hard, but coming home was even harder, seeing everyone that was close to you and those that had drifted away, look at you with mixed emotions.

They were arrested and taken back to the barn, dragged through booking and taken to interrogation rooms, all to make it look believable.

When they were done with their debriefings, they were let go, Andy wondering into the locker room to find Traci and Gail.

But instead she found the room empty, rows of metal lockers standing in silence.

Opening her locker, she anticipated a cloud of dust and cobwebs, the door staying closed for six months while she had been away.

Her uniform hung where she left it, neatly stacked on the hangers, but a small cardboard box on the top shelf drew her attention, its light beige, rippled exterior looking out of place.

Pulling it down, and lifting the lid, Andy found a folded piece of paper tucked away inside. Pulling it out, she put the box and lid back on the shelf before unfolding the neatly folded sheet.

'Dear McNally

When you left, you took something that belongs to me with you.

You have five days to return it, or find a suitable replacement.

Regards S.S.

Andy stared at the paper, disbelieving her eyes.

Sam was accusing her of stealing something, or taking something that wasn't hers, well stealing because that's what it was called.

She was angry, and disappointed that this was how he treated her when she returned, but mostly she was mad at herself for even leaving.

Crunching the paper up into a ball, she grabbed the box and stuffed it inside, shoved the lid on and stuffed it into her bag before slamming her locker door closed.

Her phone was flat, Luke never thinking to charge it even when he knew she was coming back, so that meant she would have to go find Sam and shove this box and his note so far...in his face that he would never ever think of even looking at her again.

She left the barn and took a cab to the Penny, but he wasn't there, so she headed for his house, her temper flaring and her blood boiling.

Of all the low down things he could of said, he chose that?

Throwing some notes towards the driver, she scrambled out of the cab, stormed up the stairs and pounded on Sam's front door.

While she waited for him to open it, she fished the box out of her bag, and nearly let her hand squash the flimsy material.

When the door swung open, Sam showed no sign of surprise when he found her staring at him, her eyes dangerously close to combusting as her cheeks glowed in rage.

Before he was even able to say a word, she shoved the box in to his chest, as she stepped forwards and into his personal space.

Sam's hands flew up to clutch the disintegrating box as her hands moved away, and she huffed out something illegible, before spinning on her heel and making a departure as stormy as her arrival.

Her feet hit the pavement practically running as they carried her towards the edge of the driveway and down to the curb of the pavement.

Within seconds she was slamming the door of a cab she hailed as it drove her towards the only place she had left to hide- her own home.

She fumbled with her keys when she got to her front door, not having the faintest idea of what she'd find on the other side, if anyone had been by to air out her condo, or water her plants or even clear out the fridge.

Stumbling her way through the door, she managed to finally make it inside, her attention stopping as her eyes focused on six little beige boxes, neatly lined up on the kitchen counter top. Stepping closer, she saw a tiny tag hanging off each box just as she let her bag clutter to the floor.

Lifting the first table, she read ' 'Day 1' scribbled in Sam's handwriting, the second read 'Day 2'. Moving through them she reached the last that had a question mark drawn on the front with 'Return To Sender' on the back.

Was he insane? Had he lost his mind while she had been gone?

Swiping blindly at the first box, it slid off the end of the counter, a stream of yellow spilling out as its secretly held contents spilled to the floor.

On closer inspection, Andy found hundreds of tiny yellow heart scattered across the floor, her mind not wrapping around the whole concept of this.

Grabbing the second box, she lifted the lid to find a collection of pale pink hearts, the third a range of white ones, the fourth purple ones, the fifth red ones and the sixth box completely bare.

"Aarrrggg". She set the box down and fumbled for her bag as she abandoned her quest to solve Sam's stupid game, when all she wanted to do was shower and sleep, in that order.

Throughout her shower, her mind reeled at this words, that she had taken something that belonged to him.

Did he really think that little of her?

Her mind drifted to the boxes of paper hearts, and the return to sender tag while she dried her hair, her mind trying to make sense of the distorted images it was conjuring up.

Until she looked in the mirror, and saw a tiny red paper heart stuck to the glass, some unseen force holding it in place.

Sam knew she was coming back today. He had somehow managed to get in to her condo and leave her the boxes, probably with Traci's spare key. He knew the combination to her locker, so that was easy, but the rest of it wasn't as easily done as said.

He knew she would come home and shower and wash and dry her hair, so he stuck a heart to the mirror where he knew she would see it.

Putting the dryer down, she chewed on her lip relentlessly as she finally figured out what he was trying to say.

Abandoning her attempts to finish her hair, Andy discarded the towel still wrapped around her and pulled on some clean clothes and her shoes before racing around her kitchen.

She grabbed the sixth box, and one small paper heart before searching the kitchen drawers for a pen and a post-it.

Less than five minutes later she was out the door, hoping that she wasn't about to make another colossal mistake.

On the cab ride over to Sam's she scribbled on the post-it, hoping he would understand the simple word. She asked the cab driver to wait while she set the box down in silence and stuck the post-it to the door, before getting back in the cab and asking him to take her home.

Sam heard the car outside, its engine idling as it stood still. He heard the footsteps as they came and went, the car pulling away as the silence returned.

Opening his front door, he expected some abandoned animal or kid selling cookies, he never expected to find a small beige box sitting in front of the door, or a yellow post-it stuck exactly at eye level.

Deciding to look in the box first, he lifted the lid, his breath catching and his heart stopping. He found one tiny red paper heart alone in the big space, as it lay staring at him against the pale bottom of the box.

He turned to the post-it and found one simple word scribbled across the entire square, his world going from lifeless and empty to suddenly looking really good from where he stood, all because she had something to say.

Pulling the post-it off his door, his eyes didn't move off the word as he made his way back inside and kicked the door closed.

His words came drifting back, his promises from the last time he had seen her, her reply taking six months to come, but when it finally did, he felt like his broken heart was already stitching itself back together.

Setting the items in his hands down, he went in search of his phone, and scrolled to her name before typing out a text and sending it.

'Do you really mean it?'. He sent it, before he changed his mind.

Andy jumped when her phone buzzed just as she walked in the door. She managed to remember to put it on charge in her haste to leave Sam his return to sender box.

A smile tugged at her lips when she read his text, his hesitation so freely embedded in the words.

'Did you read the post-it?'. Her fingers moved nimbly as she sent her reply.

'Yup. To dinners?'.

Andy didn't have time to reply, when a second text came through, followed by a third and fourth.

'So I can take out your garbage?'

'To me doing everything?'

Andy waited a while, her mind seeking a response.

'Uh-hu'. Was all she could come up with.

Sam stared at the screen, her vague replies driving him insane even though he had already read the post-it.

'That's not even a word'. He sent back, reaching for his keys. By the time his phone buzzed again, he was already standing outside her door.

Without even reading her new text, he hit the reply key and sent 'open the door and say it'.

Andy read the words before bounding to the door and yanking it open, to find Sam standing on the other side.

One look at him, and all the fear and subdued thoughts from earlier slipped away, his face lit up in a huge smile, his eyes dancing with something she thought she'd never see again.

"Hi". She whispered, trying to catch her breath. He just knew how to steal it.

"Hi". Sam said so softly she barely heard him.

"So you couldn't just have said it in a nicer way?". Andy said hanging on the door as she spoke.

"Would you have let me?". Sam asked earnestly.

"Probably not". She probably would have needed a little time to get used to being home if he had just walked up and asked her to talk."Why the note?". She had figured it out, but she still needed to hear it.

"I needed to get your attention". Wasn't quite what she was hoping for, but it was a start.

Stepping aside, she let him in and closed the door, her feelings trying to rein themselves in as she watched him eye her nervously.

"Okay, well now that you have it, what's next?". Andy said, looking down just as Sam inched his way a little closer.

"You wrote yes, did you mean it?". Sam's voice sounded strangely pained, like if she said any other word to him now,it would kill him.

But her voice had abandoned her when she needed it most, so she nodded instead, her eyes meeting his to show him that she meant it.

"You wrote that I stole your heart, did you mean it?". Andy asked as Sam stopped moving towards her when he stood so close that she could feel his breath fan out over the top of her hair.

"With every breath I take". Sam whispered holding out his hand for her to take.

"So what did I get, mine or a replacement?" Sam couldn't resist the question as her dainty fingers wrapped around his.

Andy rolled her eyes at his need for reassurance, but thinking about it, and how things had been between them, she couldn't really blame him, she was after all in the same boat.

"Can I tell you in five days?".

Her question took Sam by surprise, he thought that he already had his answer in the box.

Andy smiled as she watched Sam play a hundred different responses through his mind, her hand tightening its hold on his as she stepped the remaining space between them and put his hand over her chest to feel her heartbeat as it stammered and galloped, its rate increasing at the sudden contact.

Her actions made his doubts fade away, her needing five days to give him an answer just her way of keeping him on his toes.

At first Andy couldn't understand why he gave her five days to respond to his note, until he had sent the first text. On the top of her screen was the date stamp, February 9th, which meant that in five days time it would be February 14th.

Valentines Day.

And as he Sam let his free hand slither out and his fingers gently lift her chin, she knew exactly what she would give him for their first valentines day, maybe she'd write it, or maybe she'd text it to him, or maybe she'd blurt it out again, it didn't really matter how she did it, she knew she would say it somehow.

She would give him three little words that had always been there.

Sam watched contentment flood over Andy as she came closer, like her world had righted itself.

He could wait the five days if he had too, because he already had something to give her for their first valentines day. He'd picked it out a while ago, and knew that the promise that came with it would be one that said it all.

It would take time to get back to where they were, with a lot of heavy conversations between now and then, but he didn't care, they were headed in the right direction.

His gift made him smile, it was so her, and he knew that she would understand, what it would mean.

After all, diamonds are a girls best friend.

*******okay, so let me know what you think in another one of those awesome thoughts you leave by using the little box underneath here - .****͡▹**

**Have an awesome day!**

**Jelly Bean Jenna©**


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